
why did the duke fall in love with ripley again?
I stopped reading this in chap 20 i think and im lost

In Etoire's birthday party, where Ripley drunkenly defended him when Geronis insult himself to Ripley(where she doesn't realize it was him at first). Ripley's words to him(when the duke asked what does she want to say to him when she meet him) were like magic, something that is akin to salvation(where he said something in him melted).
Anyways, in the novel, this scene in Geronis POV is pretty cute. Where he once thought Ripley was plain and normal(when he first knew who made the bomb shot), now he thought she was a beautiful being, that the color of her hair is unique in the seas of blonde. Anyways, he's lovestruck.

she manipulated him to destroy the empire. Is that bad or what?
I just want to know cause i really want to understand this manhwa better and th ml too.

It's kinda bad but kinda not
Because from charlize's view she's just getting revenge because the empire used her as a weapon and she didn't want that, she was also mistreated in the family and was doing this for revenge
But from the empire's view its bad because they'd get destroyed and their power would disintegrate into thin air because they'd be nothing more than a ruined empire

i dont think its bad since the boy never cared for the empire but only his mother
he agreed to take part for the throne after he asked the girl what she wanted
i think it'd be bad if he never told him and just manipulated him with lies but since him knowing the situation and what she wanted him to do i say its not manipulation but an agreement sorta?

The novel explains this better, apparently she is Cayena. She lived the original story, then got reincarnated as a modern woman in Korea. She had no memory of being Cayena at that time, she just read the novel and thought they're similar (in terms of being someones puppet). Then when she get killed, she woke up as Cayena again and remembered that she was Cayena all along. I guess they just didn't need to explain it since it already explained in the novel? Idk @Wendyishere
How old is he anyway?
Early twenties
Tnxxx